Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/230

 226 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. THE LYING-IN WOMAN. Eu. Honest Fabulla, I am glad to see you; I wish you well. Fa. I wish you well heartily, Eutrapelus. But what is the matter more than ordinary that you that come so seldom to see me are come now 1 None of our family has seen you this three years. Eu. I will tell you ; as I chanced to go by the door I saw the knocker (called a crow) tied up in a white cloth I wondered what was the matter. Fa. What ! are you such a stranger in this country as not to know that that is a token of a lying-in woman in that house ? Eu. Why, pray is it not a strange sight to see a white crow ? But without jest- ing, I did know very well what was the matter ; but I could not dream that you that are scarce sixteen should learn so early the difficult art of getting children, which some can scarce attain before they are thirty. Fa. As you are Eutrapelus by name, so you are by nature. Eu. And so are you too; for Fabulla never wants a fable. And while I was in a quandary, Polygamus came by just in the nick of time. Fa. What, he that lately buried his tenth wife ? Eu. The very same ; but I believe you do not know that he goes a courting as hotly as if he had lived all his days a bachelor. I asked him what was the matter ; he told me that in this house the body of a woman had been dissevered. For what great crime, says I ? Says he, If what is commonly reported be true, the mistress of this house attempted to circumcise her husband, and with that he went away laughing. Fa. He is a mere wag. Eu. I presently ran in a-doors to congratulate your safe delivery. Fa. Congratulate my safe delivery if you will, Eutrapelus ; you may congratulate my happy delivery when you shall see him that I have brought forth give a proof of himself to be an honest man. Eu. Indeed, my Fabulla, you talk very piously and rationally. Fa. Nay, I am nobody's Fabulla but Petronius's. Eu. Indeed you bear children for Petronius alone, but you do not live for him alone, I believe. But, however, I congratulate you upon this, that you have got a boy. Fa. But why, do you think it better to have a boy than a girl ? Eu. Nay, but rather you, Petronius's Fabulla (for now I am afraid to call you mine), ought to tell me what reason you women have to wish for boys rather than girls 1 Fa. I do not know what other people's minds are ; at this time I am glad I have a boy, because so it pleased God. If it had pleased Him best I should have had a girl, it would have pleased me best too. Eu. Do you think God has nothing else to do but be a midwife to women in labour 1 Fa. Pray, Eutra- pelus, what should He do else but preserve by propagation what He has founded by creation 1 Eu. What should He do else, good dame ? If He were not God, He would never be able to do what He has to do. Christiernus, King of Denmark, a religious favourer of the Gospel, is in exile. Francis, King of France, is a sojourner in Spain. I can- not tell how well he may bear it, but I am sure he is a man that deserves better fortune. Charles labours with might and main to enlarge the territories of his monarchy. And Ferdinand is mightily